


Veritas Liberabit Vos

by InkyCoffee



Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: Crack, Crack Treated Seriously, Enough sodium for a pleasant savoury taste without being overpowering, F/M, Fluff, I Wrote This Instead of Sleeping, Identity Reveal, Marinette Dupain-Cheng Needs a Hug, Marinette needs sleep, don't we all
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-28
Updated: 2020-09-28
Packaged: 2021-03-07 17:02:22
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,868
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26701108
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/InkyCoffee/pseuds/InkyCoffee
Summary: “Why is there a-” she began, but Alya cut her off."Don't ask, don't look at it. Lila hasn't looked up yet, we're trying to keep it a secret," her friend replied, and the others all nodded.Marinette stared at it again. "But it's so... who did it?"Nino lifted his cap to scratch the top of his head before replacing it, a well known Nino thinking gesture. "I'm not sure, but I've checked everyone's alibis and... it might be Adrien."Marinette turned to him sharply. "He'd never do that! And how would he reach up there anyway?""No idea. Just don't let Lila find out!"
Relationships: Adrien Agreste | Chat Noir & Marinette Dupain-Cheng | Ladybug, Adrien Agreste | Chat Noir/Marinette Dupain-Cheng | Ladybug
Comments: 47
Kudos: 802
Collections: September 2020 - Fulfill A Prompt





	Veritas Liberabit Vos

**Author's Note:**

> A few months ago I joined the Miraculous Fanworks Discord Server because I kept seeing links to it on the fics I was reading. There I met and made friends with a whole community of fic writers, readers, and fan artists of all ages from all around the world and it's brought me so much joy to be a part of such a wonderful community that I think you should come join us too! <https://discord.gg/mlfanworks>
> 
> This prompt is from the prompts channel there, a prompt by Maspers, and is also part of the server's Fulfil a Prompt challenge. Special thanks to my dearest Plikki for betaing for me.

It wasn’t a typical Wednesday morning. On a typical Wednesday morning, Marinette woke some time after her 17th alarm had gone off, with her kwami shaking her awake and her mother bellowing up the stairs that she had five minutes to get across the road to school - which, with the amount of time it usually took to get dressed, pack her things, use the bathroom, brush her teeth, tie her ponytails, and grab a croissant… didn’t always manage to happen, so more often than not she was skidding into school late with some half-baked excuse and a 50/50 chance of being marked tardy. 

So this morning wasn’t typical. She was tired, yes. Her ponytails drooped a little, yes. Her eyes were still a little puffy, yes, but it wasn’t really noticeable unless you squinted. She had been up half the night regretting how she had let her troubles spill out of her. She was normally so careful! But Chat Noir had been so kind and supportive, noticing Ladybug’s sad mood and tense shoulders, and everything had come pouring out of her. Her responsibilities as guardian. How scared she felt now that they didn’t even have allies to call on. How alone she felt now that Chat was - justifiably - pulling away, and how selfish and guilty she felt because of it. How she couldn’t even confess to her crush, and now she was pretty sure he was dating someone else. How another boy seemed interested in her, but she couldn’t bring herself to return his feelings either, and how that just added to her guilt as she was sure she was about to break his heart. And about the liar in her class who was slowly but surely undermining all her friendships, claiming to be in with every celebrity under the sun, threatening her and bullying her when her classmates weren’t around, and then claiming to be her alter-ego’s best friend! She was sure she could handle the rest of it, but dealing with Lila as well as everything else was just too much!

Her partner, her perfect, amazing, wonderful, goofy, supportive partner, had held her in his arms as she cried, and it had been so good to just relax and get it all out of her system. But there had been a definite stiffening of his shoulders when she had accidentally used Lila’s name. And while he had been solicitous and understanding afterwards, and continued to be a listening ear, he had been strangely withdrawn after that terrible stiffening of his shoulders, and he had made an excuse and left as soon as he was sure she was okay. 

He never left patrol early. It was wildly out of character.

So Marinette had been up half the night, beating herself up for dropping too many hints about her civilian identity, wondering what she had said to cause her Kitty to react like he did, wondering if she had inadvertently given away her identity. 

At one point she had fallen into a fitful sleep, but then she had a nightmare in which Chat had looked at her with disgust, telling her how disappointed he was the great Ladybug turned out to be only Marinette, and he never wanted to see her again - and she had woken up gasping, panicking that it hadn’t been merely a dream. And by then it was a little after 6am, and she could hear her parents opening the bakery downstairs, and she didn’t want to close her eyes again and see that image of those green eyes so full of disgust and disappointment, so she got up instead. 

She had put a little extra effort into her appearance this morning, had made sure her homework was complete and packed, and had even stopped in the family kitchen for a real breakfast before making her way to school a full twenty minutes before the bell. 

It was a gray day, and a little chilly - not raining yet, but the clouds were certainly thinking about it, so she didn’t try to wait for her friends on the steps, instead heading straight into her classroom. She’d probably be the first one there.

She wasn’t. 

Perched precariously on a stool on top on one of the desks was Alix, who appeared to be trying to drape her cardigan over some kind of electronic… contraption hanging from the ceiling, while Kim spotted her from behind, and Alya and Nino looked on.  
  
Her arrival caused the group to scatter, with Kim grabbing the stool Alix was perched on with her still clinging to it and dashing across the room, and Alya and Nino starting to babble loudly about two very different subjects simultaneously as if pretending they had been having a casual conversation the whole time. 

Marinette blinked at them all as they paused in their crazy to notice who exactly had entered, and let out a collective sigh of relief. 

The cardigan, which had only been partially looped over… whatever the hell that was up there… chose that moment to flop down from its position and drop onto Lila’s desk below. 

Then they heard Lila’s voice in the corridor, along with Rose’s excited chatter.

The other three looked to Kim, panicking once more. He nodded, and let out a piercing whistle that had Marinette’s hands flying up to cover her ears. 

Rose stopped in her tracks, barring the entrance to the classroom. “Oh, I forgot!” she exclaimed, her voice an even higher pitch than usual as she turned to Lila and hustled her away. “I had something to show you! It’s in my locker. Come on, we still have heaps of time before class!”

Marinette was still standing in place, staring at the device hanging from the ceiling directly above Lila’s usual seat. It appeared to be a black box with an old-fashioned needle dial, surrounded by blinking lights, with the words TRUTHOMETER garishly printed across in a bold lime green heading. And was that O in the shape of a… paw print? 

“Why is there a-” she began, but Alya cut her off.

"Don't ask, don't look at it. Lila hasn't looked up yet, we're trying to keep it a secret," her friend replied, and the others all nodded.

Marinette stared at it again. "But it's so... who did it?"

Nino lifted his cap to scratch the top of his head before replacing it, a well known Nino thinking gesture. "I'm not sure, but I've checked everyone's alibis and... it might be Adrien."

Marinette turned to him sharply. "He'd never do that! And how would he reach up there anyway?"

"No idea. Just don't let Lila find out!"

“Find out what?” a fresh voice asked behind them, and at least four of the five assembled let out girlish shrieks. 

Adrien was standing in the doorway, looking radiant, carefree, dreamy… with just the hint of a devilish smirk Marinette had never seen on his face before. His eyes settled softly on hers, and she felt her knees turn to jelly. He crossed to her and put a gentle hand on her shoulder.  
  
“Good morning, Marinette,” he said in a way that melted her insides like butter. 

“You - I - um - Hello - hi - morning, good,” she replied eloquently

He looked at her more closely, a little frown wrinkling his forehead. “Did you not sleep well?”

“I - no. Nightmare,” she managed, and his eyes softened even more. He gave her shoulder a reassuring squeeze. 

“I’m so sorry you were worried,” he said so quietly she could barely make out the words, then he turned to acknowledge the others, taking in the contraption and letting out a low whistle. “What’s this?” he asked with a return of that smirk, though he made no move from standing right. next. to. her. 

“We were about to ask you that,” Alix replied.

Mylene burst into the room. “They’re on their way back. Rose and Juleka can’t hold her off any longer, and Mlle. Bustier is on her way up, so there will be no hiding it. What do we do?”

Everyone looked at each other, panicked - all except Adrien, who shrugged cooly. “Not much we can do about it now. Can I escort you to your seat M’-- Marinette?” he asked with a chivalrous bow. 

Marinette giggled nervously even as she felt her brain leak out of her ears. Why was he so flirty today? 

She was so busy focusing on not embarrassing herself on her way to her seat that she barely heard the bell ring, or the students settling into their places. 

Lila, Rose and Juleka came in right in front of the teacher. Lila was talking. “...and so I told Prince Ali that you could expect his letter later on this week. He’s still really sorry he’s not allowed to call friends for a casual chat, he was only allowed to talk to me because we had to discuss our charity work.”

As she spoke, the Truthometer’s lights began to flash, and the needle, which had been sitting dormant in the neutral position of straight upright, or (unnoticed until now) wavering to the green on the right when people spoke, began waving down toward the red colored left hand side. It briefly flicked over to the green on the right when Lila talked about the Prince being sorry he wasn’t allowed to speak to his friends, but then waved back to the red on the left, and emitted a warning beeping sound. 

“What in the world is that?” Mlle. Bustier demanded, staring up at the contraption. The rest of the class sat frozen in their seats with slightly manic smiles on their faces, pointedly staring straight ahead and not at the box-like device hanging above Lila’s seat, collectively refusing to answer her question. 

Lila looked up and gasped. “What is that?! Is this one of Marinette’s attempts to discredit me again? I told you all she’s been trying to make me look bad!”

The Truthometer veered sharply into the red. 

Mlle. Bustier glanced up with a small frown, but decided for now it was best to try to ignore that… thing. “Now, Lila, it’s uncalled for to throw accusations around. Look, it’s reacting to all our voices, not just yours. Go take a seat, please.” Once again, the needle had been hovering on neutral or slightly over to the green during this speech, and as all heads swivelled to look up at it, she gave a quick, hearty sigh of relief that whatever it was seemed to be backing her up.

Marinette turned out as the lesson started, still fretting over Chat’s weird reactions last night, and trying not to spiral out over Adrien’s attention that morning. “He’s just a friend,” she whispered to herself.

The class, who were currently doing silent exercises, all jumped as the Truthometer beeped loudly, its needle inexplicably nosing down into the red. 

“No one said anything!” Kim grumbled, and once again the needle went red.

“Just a reminder that these exercises are meant to be solo efforts,” the teacher said sharply, with one eye on the Truthometer. 

It remained neutral. 

The class remained in intense silence, but the moment the bell rang there was an outburst of chatter, and many glances up. 

“Do you girls want to have lunch with us?” Adrien asked, swinging around the second the bell rang and staring right into Marinette’s eyes. If he hadn’t included Alya and Nino in his words it would have almost sounded by his tone like he was asking her out on a date. But that was ridiculous.

Marinette forgot to breathe for a moment, then choked and spluttered when her lungs demanded air. Smooth.

“Sure,” said Alya, nudging her. “We’d love to!”

Adrien’s eyes barely flickered away from Marinette’s to acknowledge Alya’s words. “Great,” he said so warmly that sunshine bloomed in her stomach, warming her from the insides out. 

Then a metaphorical record scratch sounded as Lila appeared in their midst. "Oh Alya, Adrien, Nino… Marinette," she added with just a hint of a sneer, "...Want to come and have lunch with me? I wanted to tell you about how I met up with Jagged Stone again last week on my trip to Achuu, and he actually remembered me!" 

Whatever answer the four might have given was drowned out by the Truthometer giving its loudest series of beeps yet, as the needle swung wildly into the red. Marinette glanced up at it, raising her eyebrows. "Wow. Was there even a single thing you just said that is actually true?" she asked curiously. 

Alya opened her mouth to object, then glanced up and shut her mouth once more, a thoughtful expression on her face.

"Of course! All of it!" Lila replied hotly.

The device lit up again, beeping madly as the needle swung to the red.

“Are you sure about that, dude?” Nino asked in his gentle, friendly way. “Because so far that gadget up there has been freakishly accurate.”

“That thing doesn’t know anything. You’re really going to believe a box over me?” Lila simpered. 

Nino glanced up, seeing the needle dive into the red for her first statement. “Uh…”

“It’s clear it was planted there by Marinette. She’s always accusing me of lying. I bet she’s controlling it somehow.”

“Lila, it’s calling everyone out, not just you,” Alya began, but Lila cut her off, turning on the waterworks.

  
  
“I’ve never told a lie to any of you. And now you’re all doubting me and siding with my bully…” 

The last of her words were drowned out by the loud beeping above as the needle bottomed out on the red. 

“I’m not controlling it!” Marinette declared, and thankfully the needle swung to the green and the shrill beeping stopped. “If I tell a lie it beeps for me too. Like, say… hmmm… what’s a lie I can say?”

Adrien’s eyes glinted with something unreadable. “Say you’re in love with Chat Noir,” he prompted. 

“I-I’m in love with Chat Noir,” she whispered. The needle stayed suspiciously on green. “What?! I’M NOT IN LOVE WITH CHAT NOIR! HE’S A COMPLETE DORK AND JUST A FRIEND AND--!”

The shrill beeping had started up again, and Alya was leaning forward now, eyes lit up. “Girl, you never even told me!”

“But I’m not. I can’t be. I’m in love with--” her mouth snapped shut as her eyes flicked over to meet Adrien’s, who was staring at her with that super soft melt-your-brain-out-your ears look again. 

“That’s called denial!” Alya crowed. “Ohhh this is the best!” 

Adrien, for some reason, was blushing furiously. “Y-you’re in love with Chat Noir?” he asked, looking dazed and like Christmas had come early. 

“Great, congratulations, Marinette is in love with the cat boy. I hope you will be very happy together,” Lila said, rolling her eyes. 

The needle slid over to the red again. 

Marinette smirked her Ladybug smirk. She didn’t see Adrien all but dissolve into a living embodiment of the heart eyes emoji next to her, she was too busy calculating her next move as confidently as if she was using her LadyVision to figure out a lucky charm. 

“It’s funny you call him that. I can’t believe Ladybug would let even you get away with saying something like that about her partner, even if you are her best friend.”

Lila walked right into it. “Ladybug is my best friend. She puts up with the idiot cat because she needs a sidekick--” Once again she was drowned out by frantic beeping above them. 

Marinette slammed her hands on the desk, leaning into Lila’s space. “You are not now, nor have you ever been friends with Ladybug. If anything, you hate her. And she would never allow even her dearest friend - who is probably Chat Noir himself, by the way - to ever refer to him as her sidekick. She respects him as her partner, and would have given up a long time ago if she didn’t have him for support. And if you don’t believe me on any of those points, just ask that needle up there. Adrien, Alya, Nino? Let’s go to lunch.”

Alya and Nino exchanged a look that appeared to contain a whole conversation. “You and Adrien go on, girl. Nino and I want to have a little chat with our girl Lila here.”

“Yes, come have lunch with me, Marinette. Just the two of us,” Adrien begged her softly, and she allowed him to lead her away, her tongue once again turning to jelly in her mouth. 

Lunch was heavenly, even if she tasted none of it. Adrien spent their whole time together talking to her, teasing her gently, complimenting her, trying to encourage her to talk more about the things he knew she enjoyed. The time flew by, and the best part was he was so charming that she forgot her stutters after a few minutes, and even managed to tease him back!

Returning to the classroom, they found all their classmates ranged around Lila, their body language aggressive as they fired questions at her.

“...And what about that artist we were talking about last week, the one you said you’d show my work to? I suppose you lied about that, too?” Nathaniel was demanding as they entered. 

“I - of course I know them, Nathaniel,” Lila spluttered even as the needle swayed into the red.

“Wait a minute,” cried Rose. “Did you ever actually go to Achuu? Or give Prince Ali any of my messages? Have you even met Ali?”

“You know I spent weeks there, Rose,” Lila said desperately. The beeping was confirmation enough, though, and Rose turned away, bitterly hurt. Marinette caught her eye as she turned, and next minute Rose had dashed down the stairs and was hugging Marinette like her life depended on it. 

“You kept telling us she lies, and none of us believed you. I’m so sorry, Marinette!” Rose wailed.  
  
Marinette patted her comfortingly. “I won’t say it didn’t hurt, but I know how badly you wanted her stories to be true.”

The rest of the class abandoned their interrogation as they all crowded around, offering their apologies in a clamour.

“What on earth is going on here?” Mlle. Bustier demanded from the doorway. “Did none of you hear the bell?”

“We were just apologizing to Marinette for believing Lila over her,” Alix piped up. “Turns out Lila was lying about… pretty much everything! That Truthometer told us!”  
  


“She doesn’t even like Ladybug!”  
  


“She’s never met Jagged Stone!”

  
“Or Clara Nightingale!”

  
“She’s not involved with any charities.”

“She doesn’t have tinnitus, or a weak wrist, or a lying disease!”

“And she never even went to Achuu!”

“Marinette was right, she was lying the whole time!”

Mlle. Bustier held up her hand to quiet the din. “Everyone to your seats, please. Lila, is this true? ...But where is Lila?” 

Everyone stared around blankly. Somehow in the pandemonium, she must have slipped out. 

Then the akuma alert sounded. 

Marinette shifted from foot to foot. “I need to use the bathroom, may I go?” she asked. 

The Truthometer started beeping as the needle swung into the red. 

“...And I just remembered I have a photoshoot,” Adrien added. 

The beeping became more shrill. 

Mlle. Bustier raised her eyebrow at them. “What’s really going on?” she demanded. 

Marinette looked around wildly, desperate to escape so she could go and transform. She was shaken out of her thoughts by Adrien taking her hand in his.  
  
He. Was. Holding. Her. Hand!!!

“Mlle. Bustier? The truth is… the truth is, I know Marinette often disappears during Akuma attacks. The truth is, I wanted to go with her this time to make sure she’s okay, because it would kill me if anything happened to her. The truth is, I was kind of hoping that if I’m really lucky, I might even get the chance to kiss her while we’re gone, maybe even make out with her a little, once Ladybug fixes everything.”

The needle swung to the green, staying there persistently throughout his speech, in spite of the shrieks from several members of the class - namely, all the girls who had been trying to help Marinette confess to him all year. Marinette herself was speechless, staring at him.

  
  
This was a dream, right? This whole day had been some kind of weird hallucination. 

Mlle. Bustier also seemed speechless after his announcement, and Adrien didn’t wait for her to tell them no, instead turning to Marinette and bowing to her in a way that felt… awfully familiar.

  
  
“After you, M’Lady,” he said. 

She stopped to stare at him. He smirked at her, and an awful suspicion crossed her mind. 

No. 

He couldn’t be. 

He lifted his eyes from hers, then, and stared straight at the Truthometer, which was lying dormant for the first time all day, and jerked his head in the direction of the door. It was a subtle move, one she nearly missed as he took her arm and gently guided her out. 

“Adrien… what was that?” she gasped once they were out in the corridor. 

He led them around into a secluded corner. “I’m sorry, My Lady. After last night I had to do something, but I couldn’t let you be involved so that no one could possibly blame you.”

“I-I don’t understand,” Marinette stuttered. But she did. She could see it all too clearly. It was exactly the kind of thing her Kitty would do to help her. 

A black blur dove into Adrien’s pocket, and a squeaky voice demanded, “Cheese, Adrien! You left me up in that box all day and I’m starving!” A moment later, a familiar black Kwami reappeared with a slice of cheese, which he consumed in a single gulp. “Oh, hey Pigtails!” he greeted, then belched. 

“P-Plagg? Adrien, you’re Chat Noir?”

He looked sheepish. “I am. And I figured out you were Ladybug last night. I know I couldn’t solve your issues with your mystery guy, but I figured the least I could do was take care of Lila for you.”

A maniacal laugh echoed somewhere in the distance, along with screams and crashes. 

Marinette looked away, torn by the need to do her duty and to set things right with her partner. “We’ll talk about your little stunt later. But the truth is - the truth is, I’ve been in love with you the whole time, Adrien Chat Noir Agreste. It’s been you all along.”

He grinned, leaning forward. “The truth is I fell in love with you on both sides of the mask without realizing it,” he said, his green green eyes focused completely on hers. 

She leaned in toward him. “The truth is I really want to kiss you right now.”

He closed the gap until their lips were only a whisper apart, and breathed “The truth is I really want you to, as well.”

Then she was kissing him, and he was kissing her back, and all that existed was the taste of his lips and his arms holding her steady and the feel of his hair between her fingers. 

Another scream rang out, another crash, closer this time. 

Reluctantly, they pulled apart.

“Tikki?”

“Plagg?”

“Spots on!”

  
  
“Claws out!”

**Author's Note:**

> The prompt was:  
> "Why is there a-"  
> "Don't ask, don't look at it. Lila hasn't looked up yet, we're trying to keep it a secret"  
> "But it's so... who did it?"  
> "I'm not sure, but I've checked everyone's alibis and... it might be Adrien."  
> "He'd never do that! And how would he reach up there anyway?"  
> "No idea. Just dont let Lila find out!"
> 
> I'd love to hear your thoughts!


End file.
